(a) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the art of designing single hull surface ships such as tankers, bulk cargo carriers, container ships, and other types of commercial and military vessels.
(b) Brief Description of the Prior Art
Various hull designs have been proposed for improving the maneuverability of particular surface ships. For example, a whale capture ship and a tug must be able to turn around within a short radius and also to start and stop very rapidly. In order for a ship to possess adequate maneuverability, it must be able to maintain a given heading with the least movement of the rudders; it must have a rapid and reliable response to the angling of the rudders; and when it is desired to change heading, course and position, in normal operational maneuvers, it must be able to make rapid changes in speed, heading direction, attitude or position, especially as when avoiding collision, clearing an obstacle to navigation, or carrying out emergency evasive tactics.
In my prior U.S. Pat. No. 3,965,837 is described a barge having a reduced rolling motion in response to wave action. The barge is characterized by a close-ended channel having constant, parallel sectional areas from one end of the channel to the other end of the channel, that is, the channel has a uniform cross-sectional area.
My present invention is directed to fast ships and it is a general object of the present invention to provide fast, single-hull surface ships which are characterized by (1) a substantially reduced water plane, resulting in a substantially reduced angle of entrance at the bow and a relatively full transom at the stern, (2) a reduced self-generated wave profile, (3) a substantially reduced requirement for engine horsepower, especially at higher speeds, when compared to similar conventional ships, and (4) a substantially reduced water resistance both to longitudinal and transverse ship movements, thus improving the ship's maneuverability characteristics.
It is a further object of the present invention to reduce torsional and longitudinal bending moments normally produced by wave actions.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a hull having an improved strength-to-weight ratio.